tap. we'll see you next fox news sunday. >> this week on the journal editorial report, a complete post election wrap-up. a look how president obama won a second term and what he's likely to do with it. and plus, how should republicans respond and regroup for 2014 and beyond. from tax hikes to collective bargaining to gay marriage, how some big measures, across the states across the country. welcome to the journal, editorial report. i'm paul gigot, a divided country gave president obama a second chance on tuesday, handing him a narrower, but decisive win over republican

rival mitt romney. here is with a look how he did it. dan henninger, and jason riley and washington columnist kim strassel. start with you, when you get a defeat like this, there's no one thing necessarily that explains it. but why don't you pick out your most important? >> look, i think there were two things key to the obama victory, one was that very ol on, they ran this very high dollar attack campaign against mitt romney, a bit of a character assassination throughout the summer and mitt romney didn't respond to it and he didn't recover from it. when you combine that with the president's brutally efficient, we now know turnout operation in core states like ohio, virginia and florida, popular vote pretty close in the end. in the end he got out the partisans in much the same numbers in 2008 and that's

what won it for him. >> paul: so, kim, you're saying that's about 100 million dollars or more that the obama campaign poured on mitt romney on bain capital on his tax returns on the fact that he's a pluto kratt, and making him to be gordon gecko without the social-- and romney, would you agree they made a fatal mistake in not countering the attack ads? >> i think it was the mistake and there was a belief in the romney campaign that somehow if you were responding you were losing, but by sitting back and not doing anything, they didn't have a lot of money and this was the primary season hadn't been opened up to the general campaign dollars yet, but by sitting back, they did allow the president to brand him that way and when you looked at the exit poll numbers and questions people asked, that was certainly the impression left with lots of americans. >> paul: and jason,the romney camp told me in august they didn't feel they had enough

money to respond at the time to make either both a positive and defensive message to those ads and they went with the positive one and here is what romney will do on day one. and i also think those attacks had a kind of voter suppression impact on some of the lower middle class voters, and explains maybe in part ohio why romney didn't get the same number of votes, 2 million votes, 2 1/2 million votes lower than john mccain. >> i think what stands out about obama's victory to me is how ugly it was, this was identity politics on steroids telling black people republicans wanted to take away their right to vote and telling women there's war on them that seniors, that paul ryan wants to push granny off the cliff in a wheelchair. this is not the hope and change obama, this was not, there's no red state and blue state obama. he won ugly, it's divisive and if this is the template for how democrats want to win elections going forward to this-- >> and i can tell you what the reaction in the white house

would be if they heard you say that, they would say get over it, grow up, this is politics, republicans got a, you know, put on their boxing gloves and get over it. >> oh, yeah. >> paul: so what? you know. >> i won, you know, suck it up. >> i agree. this is the new benchmark the way you win a presidential campaign. no question about it, it's too bad, but that's the way it is. i want to elaborate on one of kim's points. the turnout machine, it did not materialize after the convention in august. we need to pay a lot more attention to the so-called obama ground game. in some ways, trying to talk about this in neutral terms, it's somewhat analogous to a corporation's marketing campaign for a new product. and they don't just do that overnight. obama kept offices open after the 2008 campaign in iowa, in ohio, in florida, and virginia, these people were working full-time and

targeting campuses and they were targeting minority neighborhoods and their target groups and they were feeding. >> paul: give him credit for that. >> i am giving credit for that, but you have to understand that obama's policy on things, that jason was just describing, was essentially a propaganda campaign to drive these voters away from the republicans. and they did it by sending them e-mails every week, by talking to them. by holding meetings and by literally physically taking them to the polls. >> paul: when romney, republicans was saying we're going to be able to match that, kim, they were telling you they had a ground game ever bit as formidable and in the end, not only do they not match obama, they didn't match john mccain, fell short of john mccain by a couple million votes, so what happened? >> look, i think their organizational structure was in place, but this again, to get to the way mr. romney ran his campaign. somebody made an interesting point to me this week and said, you know, the very end

he wasn't enthusing big crowds, he was enthusing people who should have been with them from the start. and when he finally turned after the denver debate and finally got momentum. it wasn't enough time to bring in the undecided voters and people that were sort of marginal in the end because he spent so much of this time, campaign, instead letting obama define him and deciding to run a referendum campaign on the president. >> what about the minority vote, asians, hispanics, jason, they went even bigger numbers for president obama this year, than four years ago. >> oh, sure, i mean, that's-- he got, particularly latinos, this were more of them, they made up larger percentage of the electorate and won more of them. and that may have been the key, particularly in the swing states in the mountain west that george w. bush did so well in, colorado, iowas, your nevadas new mexico. romney did didn't play out there. >> to give you a sense of the magnitude, 8% of the hispanics

in 2008 and 10% this year and romney's share went from, republican share went to 27 from 31. >> and the romney campaign thought they needed 37% of that hispanic vote for the numbers to win and they got 27%, the arithmetic on the latino vote is just brutal and obvious, they have to do something about that. >> paul: quickly? >> i want today make one more point about the type of campaign at that romney ran. focused on the economy and wanted to make the obama economy, but he woke up wednesday morning and probably saw an exit poll figure that had him devastated for people, 50% of the electorate still thought this economy was george w. bush's fault. it's astonishing. >> it's astonishing. >> and one of the failures, not making a distinction in the campaign, the theme explanation why he would be different than george w. bush. when we come back, the soul searching begins as

republicans face another four years of a democrat in the white house and at least two more in the senate minority. what the party needs to do to what the party needs to do to regroup for 2 2 2 2 2 2 hey! did you know that honey nut cheerios has oats that can help lower cholesterol? and it tastes good? sure does! wow. it's the honey, it makes it taste so... well, would you look at the time... what's the rush? be happy. be healthy.

>> another white house loss for the g.o.p. coupled with their failure once again to take back the senate. many in the party calling for change. what can republicans do to regroup for 2014 and beyond. jason, a wonderful time of the the season, called recrimination. (laughter) >> otherwise known to journalists as shooting the wounded, which is our specialty, so, what, how much trouble is the republican party in? >> they're in a lot of trouble, the coalition needs to expand. it's that simple. there are democrats, the trends in this country, the g.o.p. has to wake up to, and adjust accordingly and i think you have to start with the hispanic vote and this is

doable. and between 1996 and 2004, the g.o.p. doubled the percentage of the hispanic vote to more than 40%. and they're not natural democrats, not lost to the republican party, they need to be courted-- >> are you saying they don't all naturally want to be part of the 47%. >> what you're saying. >> some republicans talk like that's what they do. >> and this is irrespective of immigration, because the demographic trends are being set by immigrants or by hispanics already in the country. and the not new people coming. >> if you're saying, if you shut down the border now, for the next 50 years, you would still have-- >> not stop. >> paul: all right. >> and percentage grows. >> what should republicans do to appeal to that vote. >> make them feel welcome in the the party. is the the way to go. and of course, they don't always vote on issues of immigration, but that's not the top issue that they vote on, but it's symbolic. >> is this a symbolic threshold issue, if you don't

appear open to immigration, they will listen to you on the other things? >> i wouldn't go that far. it's just the sense of making them feel welcome in the party and when you have primary debates, whether they should be electrified or a hundred feet tall or get a sense they may not be welcome. >> all right, dan, what about other parts of the coalition? or to what extent is the core republican party principles of small government and social issues, to what extent were those costly here for the party, if at all? >> well, it was a close election. let me see if i can talk about this without it being taken in the wrong way. the white vote in the united states is almost, not wholly republican, but overwhelmingly republican. >> paul: romney got i think 60% of that vote, 61. >> 60% of the vote even among 18 year olds got 52% of white 18 year olds. now, the idea, the media keeps

talking about the white vote as though there's weird sort of racial story beneath it. there's nothing racial about this, it's about your perception of your own economic self-interest and i think the-- there is no evidence in this election that the republican party's ideas on tax efficiency or certainly even medicare and social security reform did not hurt them among elderly voters at all in florida. that those ideas are not the problem in this campaign. it had more to do with a technical way that mitt romney ran that campaign, and the pt overwhelmingly, the power of the obama turnout machine. but the republicans should not, i think, stand back and say, how do we reengineer our ideas? that was not their big problem in this campaign. >> paul: if you step back, kim, the election was what romney lost 2% of the popular vote, a landslide in the electoral college, but if you changed 300,000 votes in four states, president obama would be president, that's in some way a fool's game because

that's the way it always is and not trying to sugar coat the defeat, but the republicans now own, i think, 30 governorships around the country. >> right. >> so of course they kept the house, which they-- and they lost only what, about 5, 6 seats after having won 63 two years ago, and despite this being a democratic year. so, can you overdo the republicans woe is us panic here? >> oh, you bet. and democrats, by the way are going to be pushing that, and this is a sound track they roll out. this is, the republicans lost because they're too extreme. first they said that back in 2008 right before they got in the 2010 mid term elections, but the problem here was not the g.o.p. agenda. the problem was romney didn't talk about that agenda much until the last month of the campaign. and as you said, the big success story for the g.o.p. continued on tuesday night is this ownership of a growing number of states in terms of the governorships, the state

assemblies, the legislature, and those are governors out there running on the very things, tax cuts and spending cuts and pro growth policies voters are listening to that, they're responding by electing these people, but they have to hear the message. >> all right. jason one other thing, the youth vote. >> yes, i think that's another area where i hope the g.o.p. focus is going forward. romney lost the youth vote. these are 18 to 29 year olds to obama by about 20 points this time. i mean, bush only lost the youth vote and the youth vote typically does go democrat, it's just about being competitive. bush only lost to kerley in 9 points and gore less than that. and reagan won the youth vote. the trend is in the opposite direction. >> is that a focus on cultural issues-- or not hip enough? >> i don't know, a

conversation with a strategist about this i think that the youth tends to vote on social issues and surprising since a lot of them are coming out of college ap the economy looking drab. >> paul: house speaker john boehner extends an olive branch, how much will they [ male announcer ] in blind taste tests, even ragu users chose prego. prego?! but i've bought ragu for years. [ thinking ] woer what other questionable choices i've made? i choose date number 2! whooo! [ sigh of relf ] [ male announcer ] choose taste. choose prego. gives you 1% cash back on all purchases, plus a 50% annual bonus. and everyone likes 50% more...

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>> the american welcome have spoken and they've reelected president obama and reelected a majority in the house of representatives. a mandate for us to find a way to work together on the solutions to the challenges that we all face as a nation.

>> that's house speaker john boehner vowing to work with president obama on the challenges facing the nation the first the fiscal cliff, a toxic combination of tax increases and automatic spending cuts especially in defense that could take effect january 1st. so, we pointed out in the last segment, republicans held the house with minimal losses despite a big democratic year. can boehner think, look, i've got as much mandate as the president? >> i think he should absolutely think that, paul. the president made clear, didn't really run on the second term agenda and didn't talk about it much. i'll tell you what the mandate is right now, the mandate is that fiscal cliff, the bipartisan mandate. >> paul: to go off it is the mandate or not to go off. >> i think the stock market went off in the last week, people are saying pretty clearly you've got to do something about this now. i think they have a lot of leverage here, because if something isn't done, the economy is going to decline, maybe go into recession and i

think employment can get as high as 10%. >> paul: if we had another recession it would have. >> if you're the president of the united states in a second term, you do not want a legacy, unemployment-- >> the lesson, don't give in at all, you won and if you go off a cliff, you blame them and they'll get the blame. >> he has no other term. i think obama's going to start thinking about his legacy and i predict he may throw the left over the side to do a deal with the republicans that enhances his legacy. >> paul: kim, is there any evidence from the first term that the president is about to slow the left over the side? and working-- he governs to the left in the first term. is he going to change? >> yeah, and he campaigned to the left, too. one of the problems was that he spent all of this election, the only thing barack obama campaigned on, really, for a second term agenda was his vow to raise taxes on the wealthy. so, now we come back, the day

after the election, the white house has already come out and said we're not negotiating on that principle at all. and boehner said we're not negotiating on that principle at all so we're going to find out in the next two weeks whether or not there's any room here or if ins a repeat of the debt limit talks in 2011. >> speaking of that, i don't think that boehner wants a repeat of that. there was a sense last year that he got out a little ahead of the caucus and obama was able to exploit that, negotiating within the negotiating. this time i think he's making sure they present a united front and he said he's open to some increase revenue and i hope he holds on the rates, i don't think we need marginal rates increase ins this economy. he wants to negotiate and cut a deal and i think that obama will be inclined to play ball. >> paul: this is the thing. if you look at second terms are notoriously not very effective. what he needs is economic growth. the other thing is, democrats still control the senate, kim.

and they control the white house and senate and enhanced majority there. and republicans are the minority of the government. they don't really have an obligation to govern. so, what they did with the tea party coming in in 2010, they don't have to pass medicare reform. they don't have to come in with any super agenda themselves. doesn't the president and senate democrats have an obligation to say, here is what we would like to pass, and then see what, if they can actually get it through? >> and the president absolutely does that. and also, too, if there is a potential option in sight to get the senate democrats to go along with it, and the remarkable things to me, paul, they're talking about the standoff. you can see movement over the past year, republicans, you remember, started the debt limit talks in 2011 saying no revenue, never, you will not get it, this needs to be solved through spending cuts alone and they've changed that, saying we're open to revenue, if it's done via larger tax reform in a way

that doesn't hurt the economy. the people are being incredibly optimistic about it in an ideological way and the president and democrats saying we will not take any revenue unless it's from tax rate hikes. >> and that's going to be part of the showdown, dan, briefly. >> trying to keep the capital gains at 15%, one thing i would take going into the negotiations and i think it would be the one tax rate that would be most productive for the economy, if we start talking about looking for revenue elsewhere. >> if you want the investment down the road. >> coming up in our second half hour, a promise of bipartisanship, but are we likely to see a different president obama in his second term? plus, a good day for democrats, but not necessarily for all eyes, right here. this is our year. i thought it was last year... turns out i was wrong. none of us would walk in here and settle. that's how we are! i forgot what i was going to say. patrick, i want 100% commitment! because i care man, ok? who are we!? 49ers! 49ers! 49ers! yeah! [ all cheering ]

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live hello, i'm gregg jarrett. honoring america's greatest heroes this veterans' day. here is video from earlier today.

president obama laying a wreath of the tomb of the unknown at arlington. speaking of the cemetery. he said america will never forget the many sacrifices made by the military men and women and their families. a powerful u.s. senate democrat raising serious new questions over the resigning of david petraeus. the general stepping down after admitting an affair with his biographer. a committee will looking into the circumstances surroundings the circumstances and why they didn't receive any advance notice by the f.b.i. back to journal editorial report. i'll see you you at the top of the hour. around,guys. ♪ >> welcome back to the journal editorial report. coming up.